MCP server cost estimator
Describe the MCP server you need. See the work packages and person-days it takes, what that costs at your rate, and what every published price list quotes for the same scope. Then copy the scope or send it to us.
Scope
Small read-only connector
Read-only, up to 10 tools, one system, your own staff, no login or a single API key.
Effort from published work packages
43.9 to 82.8 person-days
About 9 to 17 weeks for one engineer. At your rate: $28,080 to $132,400.
Published quotes for this scope
$3,700 to $72,000
The highest is 19x the lowest, across 7 published tiers.
| Package | Days | From |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | 5 to 10 | Silent Infotech |
| Semantic layer and tool spec | 8 to 15 | Silent Infotech |
| Scaffold, transport, deploy | 5 to 10 | Silent Infotech |
| 6 read tools | 9 to 18 | Silent Infotech |
| API key auth 15 to 30 hours, at 8 hours a day. | 1.9 to 3.8 | Make An App Like |
| Testing | 10 to 18 | Silent Infotech |
| Docs and handover | 5 to 8 | Silent Infotech |
| Source and tier | Price |
|---|---|
| ScalaCode Single-system MCP server (one integration, 5 to 10 tools, basic auth) | $8,000 to $15,000 |
| Make An App Like Basic MVP (8 to 12 read-focused tools, single tenant, one API key) | $8,000 to $15,000 |
| AppMatic Tech Single-source integration (one database or API) | $8,000+ |
| Clyrix Digital Basic production (1 or 2 SaaS systems) | $12,000 to $35,000 |
| BeevR Authenticated, read-only (3 to 6 weeks) at $31 to $41 an hour | $3,700 to $9,800 |
| BeevR Authenticated, read-only (3 to 6 weeks) at $100 to $300 an hour | $12,000 to $72,000 |
| mcp-agency.com MCP Foundation (one domain, single environment) | €5,000 |
What the spec asks of this scope
- Remote server over Streamable HTTP. Under the 2026-07-28 spec, servers must answer server/discover and keep no sessions.
Sources: 2026-07-28 changelog, authorization spec.
Every figure comes from a published page, checked 2026-10-13. Most publishers sell MCP builds. The matching of your scope to their tiers, and the two rules marked "ours", are our choices.
Three example scopes, worked out
| Example | Scope | Person-days | At $80 to $200 an hour | Published quotes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff look up orders: 6 read tools, API key, one system | Small read-only connector | 43.9 to 82.8 | $28,080 to $132,400 | $3,700 to $72,000 |
| Staff update the CRM: 8 read and 4 write tools, OAuth, two systems | Production connector | 87 to 167 | $55,680 to $267,200 | $7,400 to $144,000 |
| Customers use your SaaS from Claude: 10 read and 5 write tools | Customer-facing server | 93.5 to 181 | $59,840 to $289,600 | $15,000 to $700,000 |
A small server still takes about 44 person-days on the published packages, because discovery, testing, and docs are fixed costs. That is why an $8,000 quote and a 44-day estimate can both be honest: the cheap one leaves most of those packages out. Ask any vendor which packages their price includes.
How the estimate works
The effort comes from Silent Infotech's person-days per work package, with API key auth and multi-tenant OAuth from Make An App Like's hours per feature. Hours become days at 8 a day. Money is days times 8 hours times the rate you pick.
The quotes column picks the closest tier from each published price list. The matching is ours. The tier names and prices are the sources' own, and each links back.
What it leaves out
Hosting, model tokens, upkeep, security audits, and SOC 2. Launch Day Advisors puts a first SOC 2 Type II at $50,000 to $150,000, and that alone can be bigger than the build. Most sources here also sell MCP builds, so read their prices as sales pages, not surveys. We found no independent survey of MCP build costs.
Every published tier we found
| Source | Tier | Price |
|---|---|---|
| ScalaCode Agency that sells MCP builds. Checked 2026-10-31. | Single-system MCP server (one integration, 5 to 10 tools, basic auth) | $8,000 to $15,000 |
| Multi-system MCP server (OAuth, HTTP/SSE, monitoring) | $20,000 to $45,000 | |
| Enterprise MCP platform (5+ integrations, RBAC, audit logging, compliance) | $60,000 to $150,000 | |
| Make An App Like London agency that sells MCP builds. The page is labelled "AI-written, Editor-reviewed". | Basic MVP (8 to 12 read-focused tools, single tenant, one API key) | $8,000 to $15,000 |
| Standard (OAuth, 15 to 25 read and write tools, Streamable HTTP) | $20,000 to $45,000 | |
| Advanced (RAG, webhooks, observability, dashboards) | $60,000 to $120,000 | |
| Enterprise SaaS (multi-tenant, billing, SOC 2, SLAs) | $150,000+ | |
| AppMatic Tech Ahmedabad agency that sells fixed-scope MCP builds. | Single-source integration (one database or API) | $8,000+ |
| Standard fixed-scope build (single source, API key, 4 weeks) | $25,000 | |
| Multi-source integration (2 or more systems) | $15,000 to $40,000 | |
| Full enterprise integration (4 or more systems, unified permissions) | $40,000 to $75,000 | |
| Clyrix Digital Agency that sells MCP builds. | Prototype (one tool, limited data) | $8,000 to $18,000 |
| Basic production (1 or 2 SaaS systems) | $12,000 to $35,000 | |
| Mid-market (3 to 5 systems, approvals) | $35,000 to $90,000 | |
| Advanced (ERP, database, audit logs) | $90,000 to $180,000 | |
| Enterprise (multi-agent, compliance controls) | $180,000 to $250,000 | |
| BeevR Hanoi studio. Prices by senior engineer-weeks at two rate bands. Calls them planning estimates. | Public, read-only (1 to 2 engineer-weeks) at $31 to $41 an hour | $1,200 to $3,300 |
| Authenticated, read-only (3 to 6 weeks) at $31 to $41 an hour | $3,700 to $9,800 | |
| Read-write (6 to 12 weeks) at $31 to $41 an hour | $7,400 to $19,700 | |
| Regulated or multi-tenant enterprise (12 to 24+ weeks) at $31 to $41 an hour | $15,000 to $39,000 | |
| BeevR Hanoi studio. Prices by senior engineer-weeks at two rate bands. Calls them planning estimates. | Public, read-only (1 to 2 engineer-weeks) at $100 to $300 an hour | $4,000 to $24,000 |
| Authenticated, read-only (3 to 6 weeks) at $100 to $300 an hour | $12,000 to $72,000 | |
| Read-write (6 to 12 weeks) at $100 to $300 an hour | $24,000 to $144,000 | |
| Regulated or multi-tenant enterprise (12 to 24+ weeks) at $100 to $300 an hour | $48,000 to $288,000 | |
| RaftLabs Agency that sells MCP builds. Price from its own entry in its own list. | A production MCP server, typical scope | $20,000 to $40,000 |
| mcp-agency.com MCP consultancy. Prices in euros, plus VAT, called indicative. | MCP Foundation (one domain, single environment) | €5,000 |
| MCP Growth (2 or 3 domains, multi-environment) | €10,000 | |
| MCP Enterprise (custom scope) | €30,000+ | |
| Launch Day Advisors Buyer-side advisory firm. Does not build. Prices public servers shipped into AI clients. | Level-1 read-only, single AI client (partner-built) | $100,000 to $300,000 |
| Level-2 actions, single AI client (partner-built) | $300,000 to $700,000 | |
| Level-2 actions, two AI clients (partner-built) | $420,000 to $1,200,000 | |
| Level-3 agent-resident (partner-built) | $1,000,000+ |
Questions clients ask
Short answers, no sales language. If yours isn't here, ask an engineer directly.
Ask us anythingHow much does it cost to build an MCP server?
Published agency quotes for a small read-only server start at about €5,000 plus VAT (mcp-agency.com) or $8,000 (Make An App Like, AppMatic Tech, and ScalaCode). Published quotes for a customer-facing server that can take actions reach $700,000 (Launch Day Advisors). The scope decides which end you are near: write tools, per-user OAuth, the number of systems, and whether customers use it. Figures checked 2026-10-13, and ScalaCode on 2026-10-31.
Why do MCP cost estimates differ so much?
They price different products. An internal server for your own staff over one system is a few weeks of work. A server your customers connect to from Claude or ChatGPT needs per-user OAuth, tenant isolation, audit logs, and often a security review. Silent Infotech puts the gap at about 40x.
Where do the person-days come from?
From Silent Infotech, which publishes person-days per work package for an internal server: discovery, tool spec, scaffold, each read tool, each write tool, auth, audit logging, testing, and docs. API key auth and multi-tenant OAuth come from Make An App Like, which publishes hours per feature. Two rules are ours, and the tool labels them.
Does the estimate include hosting and upkeep?
No, it covers the build. Published upkeep figures are 15 to 25% of the build cost a year (Make An App Like), 15 to 30% (Clyrix Digital), or $2,000 to $6,000 a month (ScalaCode). Hosting can be small: Cloudflare Workers is free up to 100,000 requests a day, and the paid plan starts at $5 a month.
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Want a real number instead of a range?
Send us the scope summary. An engineer replies with a written scope split into milestones, each with its own price.